Let's try it again......

There's a reason why I often tag my predictions by saying, "of course, I could be wrong". Last night's Wild Card games were evidence that such prognostications aren't an exact science. That being said, let's retrench and reconfigure the Division Series only, and take each remaining round as it comes.

ALDS: We'll stick with our pick of Detroit over Oakland. Meanwhile, given how competitive the season series was between East rivals New York & Baltimore, we're pegging this as going the full five games. The real storyline here is former Yankee manager Buck Showalter looking to eliminate his former team and send the Orioles to the ALCS for the first time since 1997, when they lost to Cleveland.

NLDS: We'll stick with Cincinnati over San Francisco, but figuring the Washington-St. Louis series is the same as Yankees-Orioles. This, too, will go five, and it'll be St. Louis moving on, setting up an all-Central division NLCS.

The reason I didn't fill out an online bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament is that it usually gets blown up on the first day or two. Last night, I went 0-2 on the Wild Cards, which reminded me of those failures. Now, if we can just convince Potato Bud Selig and his people to try to avoid dragging every game out to 3-4 hours every night. It's either that, or they can buy stock in Sominex........